While the methods and apparatuses disclosed are particularly described with respect to the art of connection verification in line migrations from, for example, PSTN to VoIP networks, and will be thus described with specific reference thereto, it will be appreciated that the invention may have usefulness in other fields and applications. For example, the invention may be used in other types of line migrations where copper lines are available.
When migrating a telephone line from an analog switch, such as a class 5 PSTN switch, to a NGN element, such as a VoIP network element, a replacement copper wire connection is established between the NGN element and the analog telephone. Present methods do not allow for appropriate testing of the new copper connection that is created during such a line migration process.
In analog to analog conversions, testing of replacement copper connections is available, and is referred to as “Board To Board” testing. In an analog to analog conversion, both lines are analog connections and so are accessed individually via a metallic access circuit on each Class 5 switch. The analog metallic access circuit, commonly referred to as the “Local Test Distributor”, provides copper testing access to the Class 5 line port under test. First, the metallic access circuits are connected to the same telephone number on the source switch and the replacement switch. Then, both metallic access circuits are connected to an apparatus that passes tones or continuity tests over the existing wiring to the co-terminated (usually a Main Distribution Frame double connection) replacement wiring in order to verify common copper connectivity to the line that will be moved to the replacement analog switch.
This conventional method of testing is not possible when migrating lines between analog switches and replacement NGN elements because NGN elements do not have metallic access circuitry. No other suitable method for this test is available.
In this regard, PSTN to NGN line migrations currently require moving each line connection from the PSTN to the NGN element, and then performing a manual test. This process is not suitable for a variety of reasons. For example, if the copper verification test fails, restoring the NGN port to its previous state would be very difficult and time consuming because a back out procedure is required. Current methods do not provide such a back out procedure. In addition, when a manual Class 5 switch to NGN migration fails, manual repair and restoration in real time of the system to its previous state is required.
An alternative wiring continuity test is known. However, this alternative test is likewise insufficient. For example, this alternative test does not include tests to the actual replacement NGN dial tone port.